Published Tue, Aug 30, 22.
Written by Rebecca Honorat.
Does the concept of SBL (small business loans) intrigue you, but also leave you skeptical?
You're not alone!
Most people can agree that small businesses are incredibly important to the economy and that they are often labelled as the backbone of a community. They can also agree that having access to credit is essential.
The World Bank gave a briefing on October of 2019 titled Haiti: Improving Financial Inclusion to Drive Small Business Growth. In this article they described the situation in Haiti like this; "Private sector development in Haiti has been constrained by poor access to finance: in 2010, just 35 percent of small businesses had sufficient access to credit."
Where people tend to disagree is how organizations should choose loan recipients and how effective they are at creating an environment that empowers the recipient to work towards sustainability.
At Alongside we are intentional about accepting applications that may be deemed "high risk" by other organizations. We have experienced our most significant impact so far by loaning money to young men wanting to leave gangs. Our local leadership & reputation enables us to effectively build relationships and be effective where other foreign organization may not.
We encourage you to read through our most recent SBL Report and let us know if you'd like to discuss our SBL philosophy in more detail.
This quarter we are looking for individuals, and local small businesses, that would like to partner with us on a monthly basis so that we can increase the number of loan applications we can accept.
The report can be viewed below or a PDF version can be downloaded using this link: SBL 2022 - Q2.
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Alongside Families in Haiti Society is a Registered Canadian Charity
